1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus and method for deterring vandalism by coating a vandal's tool or weapon with a viscous and persistently malodorous substance. This apparatus is particularly useful for deterring the destruction of roadside mailboxes by vandals.
2. Background Information
“Mailbox baseball” is a form of vandalism in which a passenger in a vehicle leans out and swings a bat, or other striking tool, at a mailbox as the car drives along the road. Rural mailboxes are particularly susceptible to such vandalism, but the problem sometimes occurs in urban neighborhoods where post-mounted mailboxes are placed at curbside. Numerous inventors, handymen, and mailbox manufacturers have addressed this problem by providing impact-resistant mailboxes, and resilient or strengthened mailbox supports.
Jones et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,650 disclose a mailbox cover enclosing a reservoir holding a non-toxic dye and arranged to expel the dye towards the front of the mailbox when the cover receives a downwardly directed crushing blow.